Once A Hero
Old School Grand Master
- Feedback
- View
Collection Bike #1
Back in 1990 I bought one of these for the princely sum of £282 - and began my hobby of Mountain Bike racing
With the original bike lost to thieves , and with pushing 30 years having now past, I set about the task of finding and recreating another.
Luckily about 2 years ago I tracked down a practically unused frameset from the east coast of America , and started the hunt for parts.
I soon established that because of the low end nature of the bike, it was actually quite difficult to find decent quality original spec parts without buying a perfectly useable bike and stripping it - which I didn't want to do, so I abandoned that search and instead decided to search for a higher end set of components.
Because of the vibrant nature of the frameset, my vision was it would look great with an all black groupset.
In reality it has turned out better than I expected! I think it looks ace!
Here's the finished spec and a few pics of the journey. Enjoy.
Frame: 18" Tange 4130 Cro-Mo
Fork: Tange Cro-Mo
Headset: Shimano Deore XT M735
Stem: Tange Cro-Mo (assumed)
Stem Cap: N/A
Handlebar: Steel, black
Grips: Ritchey WCS
Barends: N/A
Brakes: Shimano Deore XT M732
Brake Pads: Shimano Deore XT M732
Brake Cables: Shimano Retro Thick!
Cantilever cable hangers:
Brake Levers: Shimano Deore XT STM-092
Shifters: Shimano Deore XT STM-092
Front Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT M735
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT M735
Derailleur Cables: Shimano (Modern)
Cassette: Shimano CS-HG90 12-26T
Chain: Shimano HG70
Cranks: Shimano Deore XT M732
Crank Bolts: Shimano Deore XT M732
Chainrings: Shimano Deore XT M732
Chainring bolts: Shimano Deore XT M732
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Deore XT
Pedals: Shimano Deore XT M731 with Tioga PowerClips
Hub Skewers: Shimano Deore XT M732
Rims: Wolber Hard Anodized, black, 36H
Hubs: Shimano Deore XT M732
Nipples: ?
Spokes: ?
Tyres: Tioga Mud Dawg F&R
Tubes: ?
Saddle: Avocet Racing 1
Seatpost: Kalloy
Seatpost Binder: Suntour
Weight: ?
Original brochure
The original bike (with some mods of the time of course) (same colour as the cement mixer!)
The general outcome of a weekends use (me on the left (clean), brother on the right (muddy))
The frameset sourced from the states
The potential groupset - Suntour XCT basis
The chosen groupset - Shimano XT
The finished pics
Back in 1990 I bought one of these for the princely sum of £282 - and began my hobby of Mountain Bike racing
With the original bike lost to thieves , and with pushing 30 years having now past, I set about the task of finding and recreating another.
Luckily about 2 years ago I tracked down a practically unused frameset from the east coast of America , and started the hunt for parts.
I soon established that because of the low end nature of the bike, it was actually quite difficult to find decent quality original spec parts without buying a perfectly useable bike and stripping it - which I didn't want to do, so I abandoned that search and instead decided to search for a higher end set of components.
Because of the vibrant nature of the frameset, my vision was it would look great with an all black groupset.
In reality it has turned out better than I expected! I think it looks ace!
Here's the finished spec and a few pics of the journey. Enjoy.
Frame: 18" Tange 4130 Cro-Mo
Fork: Tange Cro-Mo
Headset: Shimano Deore XT M735
Stem: Tange Cro-Mo (assumed)
Stem Cap: N/A
Handlebar: Steel, black
Grips: Ritchey WCS
Barends: N/A
Brakes: Shimano Deore XT M732
Brake Pads: Shimano Deore XT M732
Brake Cables: Shimano Retro Thick!
Cantilever cable hangers:
Brake Levers: Shimano Deore XT STM-092
Shifters: Shimano Deore XT STM-092
Front Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT M735
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT M735
Derailleur Cables: Shimano (Modern)
Cassette: Shimano CS-HG90 12-26T
Chain: Shimano HG70
Cranks: Shimano Deore XT M732
Crank Bolts: Shimano Deore XT M732
Chainrings: Shimano Deore XT M732
Chainring bolts: Shimano Deore XT M732
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Deore XT
Pedals: Shimano Deore XT M731 with Tioga PowerClips
Hub Skewers: Shimano Deore XT M732
Rims: Wolber Hard Anodized, black, 36H
Hubs: Shimano Deore XT M732
Nipples: ?
Spokes: ?
Tyres: Tioga Mud Dawg F&R
Tubes: ?
Saddle: Avocet Racing 1
Seatpost: Kalloy
Seatpost Binder: Suntour
Weight: ?
Original brochure
The original bike (with some mods of the time of course) (same colour as the cement mixer!)
The general outcome of a weekends use (me on the left (clean), brother on the right (muddy))
The frameset sourced from the states
The potential groupset - Suntour XCT basis
The chosen groupset - Shimano XT
The finished pics
Last edited: